Brno MotoGP Qualifying | Marquez on Pole Ahead of 2 Ducatis

2014 Brno MotoGP Qualifying | Marquez on Pole Ahead of 2 Ducatis
Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez
2014 Brno MotoGP Qualifying | Marquez on Pole Ahead of 2 Ducatis
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez

2014 Brno MotoGP Qualifying

Marc Marquez’s dominance in 2014 MotoGP continued Saturday during qualifying at Brno for the Czech Grand Prix.

The Repsol Honda RC213V pilot, who won the opening 10 rounds, earned his ninth pole of the season at the technical Brno circuit with a 1:55.585 lap time around the 3.357-mile circuit containing 12 corners. He also topped Friday’s practice sessions, which were plagued by rain.

Though impressive, Marquez’s pole time was 0.058 of a second slower than the Best Pole record set last season by Cal Crutchlow while on the Monster Tech Yamaha YZR-M1.

Joining Marquez on the front row for Sunday’s 22-lap race that will take riders nearly 74 miles are Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, who will join Dovi on the factory team in 2015.

The second-place start matched Dovizioso’s qualifying performance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week. This was also Iannone’s second front-row start of 2014 (Mugello).

Heading up the second row is Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith, who just extended his contract with the team through 2015. The Brit will be joined by Marquez’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa, and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo.

Though he suffered a high-speed crash in FP4, and injured the little finger on his clutch hand, nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi qualified his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 seventh. Rossi begins his 245th premier-class race Sunday, and will now equal the record for most premier-class starts with Alex Barros.

Joining Rossi on the third row is LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Pol Espargaro.

The fourth row consists of the top open-class rider so far this season, NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, Ducati Team’s Cal Crutchlow and Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandex.

The riders return to Brno Sunday morning for the 11th round of 2014 MotoGP. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the race live with coverage beginning at 7 a.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 17.

2014 Brno MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 307.9 1’55.585
2 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 308.3 1’55.714 0.129 / 0.129
3 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 309.7 1’55.726 0.141 / 0.012
4 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 307.1 1’55.730 0.145 / 0.004
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 310.3 1’55.812 0.227 / 0.082
6 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 307.7 1’55.815 0.230 / 0.003
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 306.5 1’55.821 0.236 / 0.006
8 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 310.7 1’55.871 0.286 / 0.050
9 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 307.3 1’55.899 0.314 / 0.028
10 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 299.0 1’56.090 0.505 / 0.191
11 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 307.6 1’56.129 0.544 / 0.039
12 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 303.8 1’56.622 1.037 / 0.493
13 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 307.1 1’57.093 0.371 / 0.244
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 308.8 1’57.428 0.706 / 0.335
15 45 Scott REDDING GBR GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 293.6 1’57.557 0.835 / 0.129
16 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 297.1 1’57.984 1.262 / 0.427
17 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 295.4 1’58.100 1.378 / 0.116
18 2 Leon CAMIER GBR Drive M7 Aspar Honda 291.7 1’58.635 1.913 / 0.535
19 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo IodaRacing Team ART 290.7 1’58.863 2.141 / 0.228
20 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 300.7 1’58.948 2.226 / 0.085
21 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Avintia 294.7 1’58.968 2.246 / 0.020
22 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 295.6 1’58.968 2.246
23 23 Broc PARKES AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 289.1 1’59.581 2.859 / 0.613
63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Avintia

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